CURRENCY OF THE HEART - ONCE A MARINE - Loree Lough - Two Free Books

Bio: With nearly 5,000,000 4- and 5-star books in circulation, reviewers and readers alike have called best-selling author Loree Lough "a gifted storyteller whose novels touch hearts and change lives." Her 103rd and 104th novels (Currency of the Heart, #1 in the Secrets on Sterling Stree” historical series, Whitaker; Once a Marine, #1 Those Marshall Boys contemporary series for Harlequin Heartwarming) will reach bookstore shelves in January. Loree lives near Baltimore and loves spending time at her little cabin in the Allegheny Mountains, where she delights in showing off her identify-the-critter-tracks skills. She loves interacting with readers on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, and via email (she answers every letter, personally!)

Loree Lough: First, I’d like to thank you, Lena, for once again sharing your blog space with me! I’ve been in this business a long, long time and know a whole lot of authors, and I do believe you’re in the top three when it comes to generosity and kindness of heart!

It’s always a pleasure to have you here, and I love interacting with you on Facebook and other places, Loree. You have a lot of books out now. What is your favorite setting to use in your books?

I love historicals, and I’m particularly fond of the old west: Colorado, Texas, Montana, Idaho…. The more wild ‘n’ woolly a place was, the better backdrop it is for the characters!

What do you look for when you’re shopping for a book to buy for yourself?

I’ll read just about anything, from cereal boxes to calendar squares! But when I sit down to relax with a book, I like reading things that are nothing like the stuff I write. So believe it or not I turn to Dean Koontz, John Grisham, James Rollins, and naturally, the old classics.

Give us a little tour of the setting for this book.

Well, there are two coming out on almost the same day in January: Once a Marine takes place mostly in Vail, Colorado, but the characters spend quite a bit of time at the Double M Ranch on the outskirts of Denver.

Currency of the Heart also has a Denver setting, but the year is 1883.

I was privileged to read Currency of the Heart. I love this book—the characters grabbed me from the first page and didn’t let me go until long after I finished the book. And since I’m familiar with that area of Colorado (I’m actually writing a book set not far from Denver in a similar time period), I loved the authenticity of the setting. Dear readers, you won’t want to miss this one by Loree.

Loree, what other books do you have coming out soon?

Funny you should ask! This interview allowed me to take a break from the second books in each of those series, which (God willing!), will release in June of 2015. I’ve sketched out the plot outline, characters, settings, and conflicts for the third books in each series, too, so stay tuned!

Please give us a glimpse inside your home.

Larry and I live in a modest house in a normal neighborhood just outside Baltimore, Maryland. I cook at least two meals a day in a tiny galley kitchen…and I love everything about it. When I’m not cooking (or chowing down!), Larry and I enjoy reading or watching TV in the family room, or chatting as we watch the dancing flames inside the woodstove. There’s a big bright sun porch out back, and it’s the first place the grandorables go when they arrive on too-rainy or too-cold days, because it’s the next best thing to being outside. When the weather is good, that’s where you’ll find them. (But you’ll have to look up, because as often as not, they’re perched on a tree limb!) We keep the dining room table opened all the way up, which saves us rearranging things every Sunday when the kids and grandorables join us for dinner. On major holidays, we enjoy sit-down dinners, and that table (extended by three long folding tables) holds food and eating utensils for up to 40 people. It’s the only time I allow shouting in the house, because asking someone to pass the gravy in an “inside voice” just wouldn’t get the job done! I have a terrific office, adjacent to the laundry room. There are plusses and minuses to that. Mostly perks: Being so close to the dryer means I almost never have to iron!

Is this novel part of a series or a stand-alone book?

Both books are part of a series: Currency of the Heart (Secrets on Sterling Street) is a 3-book historical series, and Once a Marine (Those Marshall Boys) is part of a 3-book contemporary series.

Tell us about the story.

Once a Marine (#1 in the “Those Marshall Boys” series for Harlequin Heartwarming) is the story of a war-weary Marine who comes home to Denver without firm plans for his future. When his younger sister becomes the victim of violent crime in Vail, he puts his self-defense skill to use, and opens a self-defense studio to teach her and women like her how to prevent such attacks. Enter Summer Lane, whose hippy-dippy actor parents were off filming a movie when she was attacked. After multiple surgeries and physical therapy, she buys a townhouse in Vail…and pretty much becomes a hermit. If not for her teenage neighbor, Alex, who runs her errands and fetches her mail, Summer wouldn’t have known about Zach Marshall’s studio. She takes a leap of faith, signs up for classes…and both she and Zach hope for the best….

The other novel is Currency of the Heart (#1 of the “Secrets on Sterling Street” series for Whitaker Denver, 1883, and socialite Shaina Sterling hates that she’s living a lie. Soon after the shocking death of her husband, she discovers just how deep in debt he left her. So, to protect his legacy, her own reputation, and the stately home at Sterling Hall, Shaina sells off valuable possessions, one item at a time…and prays her wealthy Denver friends won’t find out. But she isn’t fooling successful rancher and businessman, Sloan Remington. He knows far more about her than she realizes. Because of a promise made as her husband lay dying, he guards her secrets as carefully as he looks after Shaina’s safety and well-being. Then, tragedy strikes, and makes her beholden to him…and threatens to expose a dark secret he’s been hiding most of his life. Will trial and tragedy bring these two closer together…or drive them apart, forever?

House). Set in

Please give us the first page of the book.

From Once a Marine:

Zach’s dad hadn’t said a word since hearing the “Your daughter has been rushed to the hospital” from the Vail, Colorado police department.

Halfway into the two-hour drive, his dad said “Keep your eye on the speedometer, son. Last thing we need is to lose half an hour while some state trooper writes us a ticket.”

Under normal circumstances, he might have shot back with a joke, reminding his Dad that he’d just returned from his third tour in Afghanistan. But there was nothing normal about the situation, and this was no time for jokes. 

“You okay up there?” his mom asked.

           

No, he wasn’t. But admitting it would only add to her stress.

           

“I’m fine.” He glanced into the rearview mirror and met her gaze. “How ‘bout you? Holding up okay?”

She sighed heavily. “I’ll feel better when I see her.”

Yeah, he could identify with that. Hopefully, his sister’s condition wouldn’t be anywhere near as bad as what his imagination had cooked up: Libby, broken and battered. Libby, unconscious. Libby, connected to tubes and monitors.

           

Zach shook off the ugly images and focused on the dark highway…and his dad’s white-knuckled grip on the grab-handle above the car door.

And Currency of the Heart:

Elsie grabbed a tiny brown bottle from the shelf above the exam table. Sloan read the label—Tincture of Merthiolate—and groaned inwardly. Jaws clenched as she poured some onto a cotton ball, he waited for the sting.

“You’re lucky that ruffian didn’t put your eye out,” Elsie said, dabbing the orange liquid to the cut.

Right again, he thought, doing his best not to wince. “Hey, take it easy, will you?”

Elsie seemed not to have heard him. “So now you’ll have a scar for the rest of your life. And for what? To defend a woman like that?”

While she re-bandaged the wound, the should haves piled up: He should have waited until Elsie left the room to tell Doc Wilson what happened that night. Should have gone straight home five minutes ago, when she said her brother was out, delivering the Patterson’s third child. Should have found a way to shut down Elsie’s anti-Jennie gossip the instant it began.

She opened her mouth to say more, but a thunderous rumble stopped her.

Medicine bottles clattered on metal shelves as the doctor’s wheeled stool rolled across the floor. It slammed into the apothecary cabinet’s glass door as the big pendulum clock crashed to the floor, a shattered face stopping both hands on the number 6. The floorboards creaked and groaned as the ground beneath them shifted, throwing Elsie off balance, and right into his arms.

“Wh-what…what’s going on?”

A second, larger tremor rolled through the clinic, then two more in quick succession.

           

“Too close and too fierce to be some fool miner, trying to dynamite gold from the mountains.” He knew, because he’d heard it as a boy, when his pa dragged the family from Kansas to Aurelia to find a lode. He pressed his wife and twin sons into manning a cradle strainer, and when that didn’t work, he built a crude sluice box. But all they got was cold and wet and sick, and as May drew to a close, his ma and brother were dead.

           

“My guess is, it’s an earthquake.”

           

“Here? In Denver?”

How can readers find you on the Internet?

I’m in all the usual places, and I hope everyone will visit, often:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LoreeLough

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LoreeALough

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/loreelough/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/loree_lough

Web site: http://www.loreelough.com

Again, thank you, Lena! You’re the best!

And thank you, Loree, for sharing these new books with us today.

Readers, here are purchase links to the books. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
Once a Marine:
Once a Marine (Those Marshall Boys)
Currency of the Heart:
Currency of the Heart (Secrets on Sterling Street V1)

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